Google Shifts Nexus One Sales to Retail, Will Ditch Web Store

Google on Friday said it will soon make its Nexus One smartphone available in more retail stores, and that it will eventually shut down its Web store in exchange for this increased brick-and-mortar presence.

“While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the Web store has not,” Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google, wrote in a blog post. “It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from.”

On April 30, Vodafone became Europe’s first carrier to sell the Nexus One. Google said Friday that going forward, it will follow this model rather than Web sales.

“We’ll shift to a similar model globally,” Rubin wrote.

He did not elaborate on which retail stores will carry the Nexus One in the U.S., or how soon the transition will happen. But once Google has “increased the availability of Nexus One devices in stores, we’ll stop selling handsets via the Web store, and will instead use it as an online store window to showcase a variety of Android phones available globally,” he said.

The move will “get more phones to more people quicker, which is good for the entire Android ecosystem: users, partners and also Google,” Rubin wrote.